Degating machine

ABSTRACT

A degating machine to remove the gate from cast articles where the articles having their gates thereon are loaded into a hopper and are fed therefrom onto a sectional conveyor leading to the top of a series of rollers in a wringer arrangement, so that the articles in passing through the rollers are tumbled and degated without damage. The articles and separated gates drop from the rollers onto the top of a pair of metal shafts angled toward the floor and spaced apart sufficiently to allow the gates to drop therethrough; the degated articles riding on the shafts to the ends where they drop into a collection pan.

United States Patent [191 Mar. 26, 1974 Medelberg DEGATING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Theodore Virgil Medelberg,

Sikeston, Mo.

[73] Assignee: Keystone Consolidated Industries, Inc., Peoria, 111.

[22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 279,655

[52] US. Cl. 241/102, 209/107 [51] Int. Cl. B02c 17/20 [58] Field of Search 209/106, 107, 99, 396; 241/102,14,159

[ 56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,260,364 7/1966 England 209/107 3,070,318 12/1962 Blanchard t 241/102 X 2,189,578 2/1940 Crousc et 241/159 X 3,220,548 12/1965 Flodin l 209/107 2,343,042 2/1944 Barry 209/107 1,461,265 7/1923 Bullard 209/107 X 2,065,888 12/1936 DuBrul et a1. 1. 209/107 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 305,065 l/1933 Italy ..209/107 638,231 7/1927 France ..209/107 Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Molinare, Allegretti, Newitt & Witcoff [57] ABSTRACT A degating machine to remove the gate from cast articles where the articles having their gates thereon are loaded into a hopper and are fed therefrom onto a sectional conveyor leading to the top of a series of rollers in a wringer arrangement, so that the articles in passing through the rollers are tumbled and degated without damage. The articles and separated gates drop from the rollers onto the top of a pair of metal shafts angled toward the floor and spaced apart sufficiently to allow the gates to drop therethrough; the degated articles riding on the shafts to the ends where they drop into a collection pan.

13 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PAWNTEMAREEW 3799.460

sum 3 ur a WNW; w 3 l 2 4 J3 akrsa mo PMEWW mm W SHEH U? a DEGATING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a degating machine that will remove the gates from die cast articles without damage and separate the gates from the final articles.

In the die casting of metal articles or parts, particularly small parts, moltenmaterial is injected under pressure into a mold cavity through a passage or channel from a pressure chamber. When the molten material cools and hardens forming the desired part, a portion of the material in the passage also hardens to form a gate or sprue which is integral with the cast article and must be removed before use or finishing of the article.

Previous methods of removal of the gate and any flash on the article generally utilize a tumbling action in a large drum where the parts to be degated are placed along with steel balls or similar material acting to break off the gate and flashing during tumbling. These methods have not proven efficient, and the present invention provides a machine that effectively separates the gates from the cast articles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the objects of the present invention is the provision of a degating machine where a conveyor feeds the articles to be degated to a column having several pairs of rollers in a wringer arrangement so that the parts will be degated while passing through the rollers. A sorting device is positioned below therollers to deliver the gates to one collection pan and the degated parts to a separate collection pan.

Another object of the present invention is the provi-. sion of a degating machine where degating is accomplished by several pairs of rollers in a staggered arrangement so that the parts are rotated and present different attitudes to each set of rollers thus insuring degating as the parts pass through the rollers. The tension of each roller can be adjusted to alter the squeezing action of the rollers which are formed of a synthetic rubber or similar composition, with a specific designed angle of gear slope.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a degating machine utilizing pairs of rollers of a resilient material where the rollers in a single level have different durometer values with the rollers generally above each other being of the same durometer value or the rollers on different levels have different durometer values.

The present invention also comprehends the provision of a degating machine having a novel sorting device below the degating rollers. The sorting device includes a pair of adjustable shafts angled toward the floor and spaced apart sufficiently to allow the separated gates to fall between the rollers into a collection pan. The degated articles, on the other hand, ride down the shafts to their lower ends where the parts fall into a second collection pan.

Further objects are to provide a construction of max imum simplicity, efficiency, economy and ease of assembly and operation, and such further objects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear and are inherently possessed thereby.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the complete degating machine.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the degating portion of the machine including the sorting device for the parts and separated gates.

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view, partly in cross section, taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the degating portion of the machine.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the sorting device for the machine.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the line of 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side elevational view of a tension adjusting device for a degating roller.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings wherein is shown an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 discloses a degating machine 10 for the removal and separation of the gates from small die cast parts. The machine 10 is divided into a feeding portion 11 having a base 12 and a degating portion 13 having a base 14. The feeding portion 11 includes a large hopper 15 into which the die cast parts are gathered, the hopper having a small opening at the lower end to feed the parts onto an inclined conveyor 16 having a sectioned conveyor belt 17 driven by a motor 18 at the upper end thereof.

The conveyor belt 17 carries the die cast parts to the top of the degating portion 13 where the parts are dropped into a chute 19 leading to the degating column. The column includes a base plate 21 on the base 14, a pair of parallel vertical side plates 22,22 joined to the base plate 21 by angle members 23,23 and joined together by front and rear connecting pieces 24. A top plate 25 also joins the side plates 22 and has the upper chute 19 secured thereto. Within. the side plates are three pairs of rollers 26,27; 28,29 and 30,31 which are mounted on shafts 32 and 33 and! are driven simultaneously by a drive motor 34. The :shafts 32 and 33 for each pair of rollers extend through openings in the side plates 22 and are mounted in bearings 35 and 36 at each end.

The stationary bearings 36 for the rear shaft 33 of each pair of rollers are mounted in bearing plates 37 secured to the side plates 22 adjacent the rear edge thereof. The front bearings 35 are movable and are mounted in slidable bearing plates 38, each of which is located between a pair of horizontal parallel guide members 39,39 mounted on the side plates. A block 41 is mounted between the front ends of each pair of guide members 39,39 and has an internally threaded opening to receive a threaded shaft 42 terminating at its inner end in a short smooth cylindrical portion 43. A hand wheel 44 is secured to the outer end of each shaft 42.

As more clearly seen in FIG. 7, a radial flange or disc 45 is mounted on and may be secured to the shaft 42 at the shoulder 46 defining the transition between the threaded shank 42 and its smooth portion 43. The slidable bearing plate 38 is provided with a recess 47 opening at the forward edge to receive a short locator pin 48 having a forwardly projecting end 49 of a slightly reduced diameter. A compression spring 51 has one end 52 encompassing the smooth portion 43 and abutting the flange 45, and the opposite end 53 encompasses the end 49 of the locator pin 48 and abuts the bearing plate 38.

Thus, the spring 51 acts to bias the bearing plate 38, bearing 35, shaft 32 and a roller 26,28 or 30 toward a roller 27,29 or 31 to adjust the tension of the rollers for the degating operation. A scale 54 is inscribed at the inner edge of a guide member 39 to cooperate with an edge of the flange 45 to indicate the degree of tension exerted by the rollers (FIG. 7). Rotation of the handwheel 44 for a shaft 42 in a clockwise direction, as seen in FIG. 1, acts to move the shaft 42 and the flange 45 inward to compress the spring 51 and increase the tension of the rollers, while counterclockwise rotation of a handwheel will decrease the tension. Obviously, the handwheels 44,44 controlling both ends of a shaft 32 are adjusted substantially simultaneously to the same setting to properly tension the roller.

As seen in FIG. 2, the bearing plates 37 are vertically staggered so that the rollers 27,29 and 31 will be vertically staggered for a purpose to appear later. Likewise, the rollers 26,28 and 30 are also staggered in a vertical direction. The drive motor 34 for the rollers is operatively connected to a gear box 55 having a drive shaft 56 projecting laterally therefrom, and a pair of gears 57 and 58 are secured onto the drive shaft. A drive chain 59 connects the gear 57 with a gear 61 secured onto the shaft 33 of the upper roller 27. A second drive chain 62 connects the gear 58 with a pair of gears 63 and 64 secured onto the shafts 33,33 of the rollers 29 and 31, respectively.

The rollers 27,29 and 31 are all driven simultaneously by the drive motor 34 and, as there is engage ment between the pairs of rollers 26,27; 28,29 and 30,31, all of the rollers will rotate to degate the articles. The rollers are formed of a natural or synthetic rubber, such as urethane, and are suitably secured or keyed onto their respective shafts. As shown, the rollers are all provided with geared teeth 65 on their peripheries with the teeth of each pair of rollers interengaging. Although the geared teeth 65 are disclosed, the rollers can have a smooth or rough exterior peripheral surface with substantially equal efficiency. The rollers also must be able to withstand the heat of operation while not injuring the parts being degated.

Furthermore, it is contemplated that the two rollers of a pair be of differing durometer-values. For example, one roller of each pair is of 70 durometer urethane and the other is of 90 durometer urethane. Then the threee rollers of the same durometer value would be mounted above each other in generally vertical alignment. Another arrangement would be to have the top pair of rollers 26,27 of a 90 durometer material and the two lower pairs 28,29 and 30,31 of a lesser durometer value, for example 70 durometer. Also, in this instance, the pressure on the top level of rollers is not as great as on the lower levels. If the durometer and pressure on all rollers were the same, some parts might be damaged in the wringer-like action; thus, the use of lower durometer rollers permits greater flexibility from the roller material, but with more pressure applied.

Below the pair of rollers 30, and 31, the plate 21 has an opening receiving a lower chute 66 extending from below the meeting line of the rollers 30 and 31 and terminating just above a sorting device 67 (see FIG. 2). The sorting device is mounted on intermediate bars 68 in the base 14 and includes a base 69 adjustably mounted relative to the bars 68 and supporting a motor 71 and gear box 72. A pair of elongated metal shafts 73,73 are rotatably mounted in spaced supports 74 and 75; the shafts being angularly disposed downward from the motor 71 to the support 75 which is pivotally mounted on the bars 68 at 76. The base 69 has a pair of depending brackets 77 secured to the bars 68 by fastening means 78. The base 69 is angularly disposed relative to the brackets 77. The fastening means 78 is movable in slot 78a of bracket 77 and slot 78b of bars 68 to permit shafts 73,73 to be pivoted about pivot 76 and thus provide adjustability of the angular attitude of shafts 73,73. Thus, the most desirable angular attitude may be set for each article and the detached gate associated with the article.

Adjacent the upper end of each shaft 73 is a gear 79, with the gears 79,79 interengaging so as to rotate the shafts simultaneously in the direction of the arrows of FIG. 6. The gear box 72 has a drive shaft 81 operatively connected to one shaft 73. Mounted above the shafts 73,73 are a pair of inwardly angled elongated plates 82,82 which are mounted on the supports 74 and 75 to direct the degated articles and the separated gates onto the metal shafts. The shafts 73 are spaced a sufficient distance apart to allow the separated gates to drop therebetween but not the degated articles. An inclined chute 83 extends along the length of the shafts 73 to direct the separated gates dropping between the shafts into a collection pan 84.

At the lower ends, the shafts 73 terminate in reduced portions 85,85 which allow the degated articles to fall therebetween into a second inclined chute 86 extending in the opposite direction from the chute 83 to a second collection pan 87.

In operation, the die cast parts are fed from the hopper 15 onto the sectioned conveyor belt 17 to be carried to the top of the degating portion 13, where the parts are dropped off of the belt into the upper chute 19 which directs the parts to a point between the top pair of rollers 26 and 27. The rollers in a wringer arrangement rotate toward each other to move the die cast articles downward therebetween. The geared teeth 65 on the rollers and the wringer action act to break off and separate the gates from the articles without any damage to the part or article. As the parts go'through the offset levels of rollers 26,27; 28,29 and 30,31, the parts turn approximately to 200 thereby presenting a different attitude of the part to the next level of rollers. The three levels of rollers act to multiply and insure degating.

Upon leaving the lower level of rollers 30,31, the separated parts and gates drop through the lower chute 66 onto the elongated rotating metal shafts 73,73. Due to the spacing between the shafts, the separated gates drop therebetween onto the inclined chute 83 and then into the collection pan 84. The degated parts do not fall between the shafts 73,73, but ride on the shafts in a downward direction to the reduced ends 85,85, where the parts drop between the ends onto the inclined chute 86 and into the second collection pan 87. Thus, the parts are separated for removal to subsequent finishing operations, and the gates in the pan 84 can be recycled to the die casting operation.

Although shown with a hopper 15 depositing the die cast articles onto the conveyor belt 17, it is contemplated that an in-line feeder could be utilized for such parts as have a large gate, so that the parts would be set onto the sectional conveyor one at a time instead of in clumps; thus insuring that these gates would be removed in the degating section 13.

I claim:

1. A machine for degating cast articles comprising means to feed the articles to be degated from a storage source, means to degate the articles, and means to separate and sort the degated articles from the separated gates, the degating means including a column through which the articles pass, a plurality of pairs of rollers in a vertical relationship providing a wringer arrangement, each pair of rollers being substantially horizontally aligned, and means to simultaneously rotate all of the rollers to degate the articles.

2. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said rollers are formed of a resilient material and each pair of rollers is engaged under tension.

3. A machine as set forth in claim 1 in which said pairs of rollers are staggered vertically.

4. A machine as set forth in claim 1, including a pair of stationary bearings for one roller in each pair and a pair of movable bearings for the other roller in each pair, and means to adjust the tension on each pair of rollers.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 1, including means to adjust the tension between each pair of rollers including an internally threaded block secured to the column, a threaded shaft threadingly engaging the block and terminating at one end in a handwheel and at the opposite end in a reduced diameter smooth portion, a radial flange on the shaft at the juncture of the threaded and smooth portions, a locator pin on said movable bearing, and a compression spring between the radial flange and the movable bearing and encompassing the smooth shaft portion and the locator pin.

6. A machine as set forth in claim 5, including an indicator scale on the column cooperating with the radial flange to indicate the degree of tension imposed on the pair of rollers.

7. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein pairs of rollers have different hardness.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said rollers are formed of a resilient material and have a geared teeth periphery, said pairs of rollers interengaging to provide a wringer action on the articles to be degated.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which the rollers include parallel teeth separated by parallel depressions about the circumference of each roller.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said teeth are substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of said roller.

11. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said separating and sorting means is positioned below the lower pair of rollers and includes a pair of parallel downwardly inclined elongated shafts, and means to rotate the shafts simultaneously, each shaft having a reduced diameter at its lower end.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 11, in which said parallel shafts are spaced apart a distance sufficient to allow the separated gates to fall therethrough but insufficient to pass the degated articles, said articles riding down on the shafts to drop between the reduced diameter lower ends thereof.

13. A machine as set forth in claim 1 1, including an inclined chute below the parallel shafts leading to a collection pan, and a second inclined chute below the reduced diameter lower ends of the shafts leading to a second collection pan. 

1. A machine for degating cast articles comprising means to feed the articles to be degated from a storage source, means to degate the articles, and means to separate and sort the degated articles from the separated gates, the degating means including a column through which the articles pass, a plurality of pairs of rollers in a vertical relationship providing a wringer arrangement, each pair of rollers being substantially horizontally aligned, and means to simultaneously rotate all of the rollers to degate the articles.
 2. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said rollers are formed of a resilient material and each pair of rollers is engaged under tension.
 3. A machine as set forth in claim 1 in which said pairs of rollers are staggered vertically.
 4. A machine as set forth in claim 1, including a pair of stationary bearings for one roller in each pair and a pair of movable bearings for the other roller in each pair, and means to adjust the tension on each pair of rollers.
 5. A machine as set Forth in claim 1, including means to adjust the tension between each pair of rollers including an internally threaded block secured to the column, a threaded shaft threadingly engaging the block and terminating at one end in a handwheel and at the opposite end in a reduced diameter smooth portion, a radial flange on the shaft at the juncture of the threaded and smooth portions, a locator pin on said movable bearing, and a compression spring between the radial flange and the movable bearing and encompassing the smooth shaft portion and the locator pin.
 6. A machine as set forth in claim 5, including an indicator scale on the column cooperating with the radial flange to indicate the degree of tension imposed on the pair of rollers.
 7. A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein pairs of rollers have different hardness.
 8. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said rollers are formed of a resilient material and have a geared teeth periphery, said pairs of rollers interengaging to provide a wringer action on the articles to be degated.
 9. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which the rollers include parallel teeth separated by parallel depressions about the circumference of each roller.
 10. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said teeth are substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of said roller.
 11. A machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said separating and sorting means is positioned below the lower pair of rollers and includes a pair of parallel downwardly inclined elongated shafts, and means to rotate the shafts simultaneously, each shaft having a reduced diameter at its lower end.
 12. A machine as set forth in claim 11, in which said parallel shafts are spaced apart a distance sufficient to allow the separated gates to fall therethrough but insufficient to pass the degated articles, said articles riding down on the shafts to drop between the reduced diameter lower ends thereof.
 13. A machine as set forth in claim 11, including an inclined chute below the parallel shafts leading to a collection pan, and a second inclined chute below the reduced diameter lower ends of the shafts leading to a second collection pan. 